


Legacy of Stars

by star_otocinclus



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Bones is a Good Friend, mentions of Tarsus IV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-01-09 14:26:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12278406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/star_otocinclus/pseuds/star_otocinclus
Summary: A story spanning three generations of Starfleet officers





	1. Chapter 1

-November 30 2265-

“Seven point six five days.”  
“Yeah, I’ll drink to that,” muttered Bones, clinking his glass of whiskey against Spock’s mug of tea.  
Jim sighed and ran his thumb over the edge of the bar table, “It feels odd, we’ve been out here for five years, sometimes it feels like no time has passed, yet other times it feels like an eternity.”  
The three men sat together for a while longer, letting the weight of all that had occurred in the last five years, good and bad, hang in the air.

Spock broke the silence, “If you will excuse me, Doctor, Captain, I must relieve Mr. Sulu on the bridge.” He rose from his stool and left with his still half full mug.  
Bones leaned forward, putting both elbows on the table, “It’s been a good five years Jim, your father would have been proud of you, and Pike too for that matter.”

Jim sighed, Pike’s last words to him had been chastising him for being distracted in the daystrom conference room, and he really didn’t know what his father would think of him. Sure, he appreciated what Bones was trying to say, but that didn’t help the hollow feeling in his chest.

Jim wondered for a moment, how different would everything be if he had a steady father figure throughout growing up? How different would his life be if he didn’t have to grow up in the shadow of George Kirk? If he never had to deal with Frank? If Chris Pike was still alive?

Bones quickly caught on to what Jim was thinking, “Now don’t go down that road Jim, it won’t do you any good to dwell on what could have been.”

Jim sighed, “Can’t help it Bones.”

“Jim, we’re about to finish our five year mission, we should be celebrating.” Bones lent back again.

“Of course this isn’t the end, the admiralty will likely send us up again, probably a smaller two year mission or the like,” said Jim, running a hand over his face. “Although we will probably lose about a third of the crew to transfers and promotions.”

“I hear Chekov is being bumped straight up to lieutenant commander on the Reliant,” Leonard half laughed, “He’s a good kid, would probably make captain in a decade or so.”

“Yeah,” Jim agreed, “Don’t tell him yet but Sulu is also being promoted to lieutenant commander, it should make Spock’s life a bit easier, after all he is both the first officer and the science officer.”

“Spock will probably be glad of the opportunity to spend more time in the labs.”

It was Jim’s turn to laugh, “Whatever happened to you calling him a ‘hobgoblin’? Or has the friendly ribbing lost its appeal?”

“I’m not sure Jim, I guess I’ve mellowed out a bit over the last five years, so have you for that matter,” he sighed.

Jim lifted his own glass, “to change, both personal and routine.”

“To change,” Leonard clinked his almost empty whiskey against Jim’s.


	2. Chapter 2

-March 7 2266-

James Kirk stood behind his desk, back straight and chin up, “with all due respect, _sir_ , I am not comfortable with putting my crew at risk with so little information.” Admiral Yeval had called the Enterprise in the middle of the night shift to arrogantly declare that the Enterprise would head straight into the neutral zone, and into orbit around a war torn and dangerous planet, without any information on what they had to do, let alone why.

“You must understand, I have a duty to my ship and my crew and I am unwilling to risk their lives without a good reason,” he crossed his arms.

Yeval rubbed a hand over their face, “Kirk, you will follow my orders without further questioning or you will be brought up on insubordination charges.” Their face softened for a moment, “it has to do with a mutual friend.” The screen went blank following the somewhat cryptic remark.

Jim stared back at his own reflection, pondering on what they meant. He couldn’t come up with any possible connections between himself and the admiral. Jim sat back down in his chair and pressed the intercom between the ready room and the bridge. “Lieutenant Commander Sulu, set course for Kramer IV, full warp.”

XXX

They had already been close to the neutral zone so the journey took less than six hours, but the timing meant that Jim had stayed on, and was working a double shift. Thankfully Spock had stayed on as well, he claimed that due to the unknown nature of what they would be required to do it would be logical to have the most senior officers all on duty. Jim agreed with him, but after surveying three life supporting planets in two days, all the science officers had been spending much more time in the labs than they really should. Spock, as well as most of the other officers, stated that he was not tired and could continue being on duty, however the extra workload was starting to show.

On arrival to Kramer IV it took just over three minutes for initial scans of communications to reveal the current situation on the surface. “Political relations in the north seem tense but not volatile, civilians have been rioting in some areas, and I can’t gather much from the south.”

Jim spun a little in his chair to face the officers behind him, “Thank you, Uhura. Mr. Spock what have you found?”

Spock paused, “The southern continent is entirely covered by volcanic ash and gases, a chain of volcanoes began erupting four point seven months ago and one remains active, however there are some discrepancies in scans. The land there used to be the primary source of agriculture for all the planets residents, after the initial eruption the lack of resources heightened the already unstable relations between the two continental powers. They seem to have cut off all major interactions, and the north has refused to accept refugees from the south. There is little to no humanoid activity on the southern continent, it is safe to assume that the majority of the population has perished.”

Jim felt sick, the southern continent had been left to starve. His throat felt tight and he struggled to stay looking at Spock. Jim tried in vain to push down the ugly memories which surfaced in his mind.

Spock stood from his station, “Additionally, there is a small archipelago to the west which shows signs of recent colonization, the weather patterns have spared the islands from much of the volcanic cloud.”

The addition of something rather insignificant to the major issues of the planet calmed Jim a bit, he felt like Spock may have only added that for his benefit. Jim appreciated that.

“You said there were discrepancies in your scan?”

Spock walked closer to Jim, they both faced the main view screen, “I have detected the presence of a number of chemical compounds which do not occur naturally in volcanic eruptions. It will require more analysis but I theorize that the previously dormant volcanoes may have been artificially triggered into eruption.” Spock stood closer, his elbow firmly pressing into Jim’s shoulder.

Their clothing prevented any kind of telepathic comfort but it was enough anyway. Jim took a deep breath, “Continue with your analysis Mr. Spock, I’m going to check in with medical and then engineering.”

He stood and entered the turbolift, concerned glances from Sulu and Uhura followed. Once he closed the door Jim leaned back against the wall and slid to the floor, breathing hard. Part way to med bay the turbolift opened to allow a junior lieutenant in. “Sir? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I uh, I’m just going to med…” Jim trailed off “…Tucker, right?”

“Yes sir,” said Lieutenant Tucker. She stepped forward, grabbing Jim’s out stretched hand and pulled him to his feet while supporting his elbow. “Do you want me to walk with you to med bay?”

“I think I’ll be fine, thank you anyway.”

XXX

“Bones!” Jim announced loudly as he entered the med bay.

“Jim, hi.” Leonard responded, looking up from a tub of equipment on a biobed. He stood up and gestured for Jim to follow him into his office. “What can I do for you?”

They both sat on the white couch shoved into the corner of the room. “I came down here to see how things are going and, uh,” Jim looked down, “I kinda had a moment on the bridge.”

Len leant closer, “We’re all fine down here Jim, what happened up there?”

Jim pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes, “Kramer IV, a third of the population has starved to death. I dunno, it…”

Len gently grabbed Jim’s hands and pulled them down, “Hey, don’t hurt yourself. Do you want to talk about it?”

“…Not really. Spock was there. He helped in his own way.”

Len sighed, “Good to hear. C’mon, eat something.”

He stood, went behind his desk, opened a draw, and tossed a granola bar at Jim.

“Thanks,” he muttered.

 

XXX

The doors to engineering slid open, “Scotty! How are things down here?”

“Captain!” Scotty slid out from under a console, “The new plasma injectors are ready for installation, we won’t be able to travel at warp while I switch them over so it’s your call as to when we should do it.”

Jim crossed his arms tightly, he was still unnerved by their current situation, “I don’t know how long we are going to be in orbit for Scotty, and I have no idea what we are here for, so it may be a while before I can give you the go ahead.”

“Aye sir, just give me the word when you’re ready for it.”

“Bridge to Captain Kirk,” the voice crackled out of the intercom on the wall near Scotty’s console, “We have detected Federation weapon signatures at the base of the volcano on the southern continent.”

“I’ll be right there, Kirk out.”

XXX

“What do we have Mr. Spock?” Jim asked on arrival to the bridge.

“Nineteen high powered phaser shots were fired, seven with Federation signatures. Radio chatter indicates a base of some kind at the foot of the volcano,” Spock stood from the captain’s chair, “with an estimated four soldiers currently engaged in a standoff with whoever is using Federation technology.”

“Right,” Jim sat down in the chair and pressed a button on the arm, “Giotto, bring yourself and four other armed security personnel to the transporter room, we’re beaming down.” Jim grabbed both arms of his chair and launched himself towards the turbolift, “Come on Spock, I think this is what Yeval sent us here for.”

“It appears so Captain.”

The turbolift ride to the transporter room was quiet. Spock and Kirk stood in amicable silence, for a moment Jim considered saying something, he didn’t know what. Should he say thank you for earlier? Had Spock even meant the contact? Was he over thinking this? In silence, the two officers made their way from the turbolift to the transporter room.

“Lieutenant, ensigns,” Kirk acknowledged the gathered personnel. “We know very little about the situation on the ground, radio chatter indicates a standoff, and federation weapons are involved. I’m sorry I can’t give you more detailed information, this is all we have right now.”

Jim and Spock both moved to the far wall to collect their own gear, phasers and heat resistant outerwear. When they were ready the party of seven stood on the transporter pads.

“Energize.”

The landing party materialized between flows of lava at the base of a dark, rocky precipice. Cut deep into the wall were two heavy metal doors that had obviously been blown off their hinges by traditional explosives. They started moving quietly and carefully towards the entry way. Just inside there were two sets of stairs, one going down, one up. “Spock, you take Morello and Y’sai. Go up those stairs and see what you can find,” Jim whispered.

“Affirmative,” came the soft response.

Jim’s team continued slowly down the stairs. After two flights they encountered a wide, low room. There were rows of bulky looking equipment stacked on old metal desks, the only light came from the party’s torches and a glitching blue panel on the wall which read ‘HEAT _CRITICAL_-_EVACUATION_COMMENCED_-_FINAL_STAGE_IMPLEMENTED’

Ensigns Guo and Saov both started examining the equipment unprompted, Giotto and Kirk both moved to inspect the panel. A small row of symbols was located on the right-hand side of the screen. Giotto tried to press one of them. The symbol lit up for a moment but nothing happened, Jim tried another symbol. He had to press it multiple times to get it to do anything at all, but when it did it displayed a small pop up saying ‘ACTION_FAILED’

Jim sighed, “I suspect most of the tech in this place has been fused by the heat, or even molten entirely.”

“I agree sir, I believe we’ve hit a dead end. I recommend we reunite with the others upstairs,” Giotto breathed, even with their specially made outerwear, the heat was still an unignorably annoying presence.

Together they stepped back to the base of the stairs, “Guo, Saov, what have you found?” asked Jim.

The ensigns jogged back to them, “The equipment here is a mix of geothermal and volcanic monitoring equipment. We also found several systems set up for remote control of what looks like mining equipment, although contact has been lost.” Reported Guo.

“I don’t think it’s much of a jump to assume that this base intentionally triggered the eruption,” added Saov.

“Thank you, ensign. Let’s go see if Spock and his team have found anything.”

XXX

As they reached the top of the stairs, hushed voices began arguing.

“They don’t look Federation, I doubt they acquired those phasers legally sir!”

“Ensign, it would be unwise to make assumptions about either side at this stage,” Spock shot back at his subordinate.

Kirk gestured for the rest of his team to get down. They had entered a harshly lit white corridor littered with destruction, doors hung off hinges, sections of the walls had collapsed, and barely a few meters from the stairs were the rest of the landing party, crouched behind a flipped table.

Jim’s team crawled to shelter, “I take it you’ve found them Spock?”

“Yes Captain, the four soldiers Lieutenant Uhura picked up on radio signals are out of sight in the second room on the right. There also appear to be two humanoids behind the rubble and fallen door four point eight meters from our present location.” Spock whispered.

Jim, slowly peaked over the edge of the table. Spock was right, both the door and it’s doorway were covered in phaser burns. He thought he saw movement from behind the door, and so did the soldiers. A barrage of phaser fire emanated from the darkened room. Two sharp shots answered from behind the door.

Ensign Morello traded places with Y’sai to be closer to her two commanding officers, “Sir, we currently have no way of knowing which side, if either, would be friendly towards the federation. I recommend we try to take them all.”

Guo piped up from the back of the group, “Captain, my tricorder is telling me the two people in the hallway both have Starfleet issue communicators. I recommend the Enterprise locks onto them and we beam them directly to the brig.”

Jim looked at her and then to where the soldiers were hiding. Between where the landing party was and where the standoff was happening, the ground was covered with enough rubble to make a stealthy approach impossible and there was nothing to provide suitable cover. Guo’s idea it was then.

“Kirk to Enterprise, lock onto the two extra communicator signals and beam them up. Have security waiting.”

“I cannae do it sir!” answered Scotty, “the signals been modified, it won’t lock on. You’ll need to get close to them.”

Jim sighed, “Right, be ready for us. Kirk ou-“

He was cut off by another volley fired from behind the fallen door. A dark figure stood, dragged the door up with them, and used it as a shield as they approached the soldiers. The other person, still on the floor, and now exposed, became the focus of the soldier’s fire.

All Jim saw was the bright flashes of multiple shots, followed by silence.

The soldiers began to approach the person holding the door who was now retreating, firing wildly. Seven people was too many to hide behind a table. Jim swore, “Shit. Get back. Inside that room!”

He grabbed Saov by the back of the heat suit, and Giotto’s arm, and pulled them back into the first room. Spock, Morello, Y’sai, and Guo followed. The landing party huddled on either side of the doorway. “Tricorder?” Jim huffed, the heat protection gear only provided so much relief.

Saov offered up his, Jim took it from him silently. He turned it on. Seven markers appeared on the screen, indicating their own positions.

A small thud came from the next room.

Jim expanded the scanning radius, markers indicating the modified communicators appeared. One was up against the wall, the other a bit further back. More thuds, whatever the walls were made of started giving way, softened by the blistering heat of the outside volcano. Jim gestured at his officers to take up defensive positions.

The bottom section of the wall began glowing and melting away under a phaser, soon a big enough hole for a person to climb through appeared. The uninjured person dragged their unresponsive companion through.

Jim got his communicator out again as his officers surrounded the pair. “Scotty, we’re ready for-“

“No!” yelled the mystery individual. They jumped forward and slapped the communicator out of Jim’s hands. Spock roughly grabbed their arm, twisted it behind them, and forced them to the ground. “There’s a scrambling field! Beam out and you’ll arrive as mush!”

Saov grabbed his tricorder from where Jim had dropped it, “They’re right sir, once we get back outside we’ll be clear though.”

“Thank you, ensign.” Jim turned back from Saov. “And what about you? You have stolen Federation technology, are you willing to co-operate with us?”

“Sure mate, if your officer here will let me go I’ll even give ya my weapon.”

Jim nodded at Spock who snatched the phaser from their belt. “Captain, there still remains the issue of the native sol-“

“Pfft! They ain’t native, they’re from the north!” spat the stranger.

“Native to the planet,” clarified Spock, with a glare. “They’ve moved into the hallway.”

Jim glanced around the dark room, “Alright… Giotto, Guo, Morello, block up that hole with those desks. Y’sai, Saov, I need you to carry our friend here. Once the soldiers move into the other room, we’ll make a run for it.”

The other person groaned softly as they were lifted, but otherwise remained unaware of what was happening. Jim and Spock moved up to the doorway, keeping in the shadows and watching as the soldiers crept across the hall. As the last one disappeared from sight Jim gestured for the team to make a break for the stairs. Spock darted out first with the stranger, he was followed by the rest of the party with Jim and Morello covering them from behind.

Partway down the stairs Jim heard someone shout followed by heavy footsteps running towards the stairs. “They’re tryna leave! Get ‘em!”

“Pick up the pace! C’mon!” Jim grabbed Morello’s arm and dragged her faster down the stairs. When they caught up to everyone else Jim put his hands on the back of the unconscious person and pushed to help the team move faster. They clattered down the rest of the stairs and out in to the entry way. “Saov?” asked Jim.

“A little bit further Captain.”

Jim peered out of the ruined entryway, he now had a better view of the devastated landscape than when they had arrived. The lava had burned channels through the forests surrounding the volcano, the devastated vegetation that remained was only sooty, twisted fingers of mangled wood reaching desperately towards the sky. What little of the setting sun that managed to filter through the suffocating ash cast an eerie glow on the distant hillsides covered in rotting crops and abandoned homes.

He felt his throat tighten again, “Jim,” he heard Spock say.

He was standing in the middle of a field. No ash this time, just harsh, glaring sun. The sickening smell of rotting wheat filled every breath he took, it was everywhere, it was inescapable, it burned in his throat. Run, he thought, run, else they would find him. They would find him, take his food, hurt his kids. His feet were stuck, his entire being was strained with the thought of running, hiding, surviving.

“Jim,” Spock repeated, a cautious hand reached out to him. Jim nodded at Spock, letting him gently grab his wrist. “We have to leave Jim.”

“…Yeah,” he breathed, “Alright, everyone outside.”

The team assembled as far from the safety of the base as they dared, Spock was still holding his wrist. The soldiers appeared at the base of the stairs as Jim pulled out his communicator, “Scotty! Nine to beam up!”

He saw a bright flash as the transporter room materialized around him. The red shirt to his right crumpled to the floor. Jim knelt and rushed to turn her onto her back, pulling away from Spock’s grip. Morello had been hit. The shot had torn away a large section of her helmet. Burnt flesh marred a good half of Morello’s face, her hair had also been largely burnt off.

Leonard bounded onto the transporter platform, medical tricorder in hand. He began scanning Morello, he glanced over at the unconscious stranger still being supported by Y’sai and Saov, “Scotty, sickbay!”

“Aye sir!”

McCoy, Morello, and the three others disappeared in a shining white haze. Jim stood and began removing his own gear, “Giotto, Guo.” The two security officers stood closer to the stranger. “Who are you and what are you doing with Federation technology?” Jim asked.

The stranger slowly took their helmet off, “I am Ahvan, she of Velga’s house.” Ahvan had dark green skin with broad features and sparse hair. She pointed at Jim's chest, "You from Starfleet?"

"I... Yes. How do you know who we are?" He responded.

"My friend, the guy who was with me? He's one of you. Starfleet I mean, not just human."

Spock stepped forward, "Captain, this society has only just achieved warp capability. I believe that it is unlikely that the Federation is attempting to contact them this quickly, furthermore there is no official record of any Federation representative traveling to Kramer IV."

"Thank you, Mr. Spock," he dismissed the red shirts, then Jim turned back to Ahvan, "Care to explain?"

Ahvan paused for a moment, "I think your man could explain this better than I could."

"Our man is in sick bay," Jim sighed.

"Uh, so months back, before the volcanoes went off, relations between my people, the Rav’hain, and the people in the north, the Davall, turned sour. Things hadn't been easy on us, we made nearly all the food, and the Davall were worried that we'd stop selling to them so they sent their military to force our farmers to sell to them. Some of us decided that we shouldn't have to support the Davall, so they began to push back. Stuff escalated from there and spiraled out of control until we had a full blown war on our hands.”

“Was this an entirely new conflict?” Jim asked.

“No, there’s been a long history of it. Anyways, then, these aliens called the Klingons-,” he nodded at Ahvan, indicating he knew about them, “-showed up. Course we already knew about other species and that because some of our ships had had fleeting encounters, but these guys were a whole other deal. So, they showed up and noticed our dilithium deposits. They figured that the best way to get access was if they got rid of us, so they began helping the Davall.

“They were encouraged by the Klingon support and they built into the dormant volcanoes on the west of our continent and artificially triggered the eruptions. Before that though, this human shows up. He said his name was Chris-,“

“Chris?”

“Yeah, and he was here on behalf of Starfleet’s intelligence branch and the Federation and that he was gonna stop the Davall and the Klingons. He said he was doing this because the Federation also wanted our dilithium but they wouldn’t just take it like the Klingons, they’d give us stuff in return. We Rav’hain aren't really in a position to turn down help so once he told us about the Davall's plan we assembled a team to help him.”

“I gather you were on this team and were unsuccessful.” Spock stated rather bluntly.

Ahvan huffed and folded her arms, “Yeah. Yeah, we weren’t.”

“So what were you doing back there months later?” Jim asked as he stepped closer.

“The first time we went in there, we didn’t get a good look at the machinery the Davall used, we were hoping that we could go back and stop any further eruptions. Unfortunately, most of the equipment had been melted or fused and we thought it had been abandoned but just as we were about to leave some of their soldiers found us, and well, you were there for the rest.” Ahvan finished.

“Scotty, show Ahvan to some guest quarters.” Jim gestured at the door.

“Aye sir,” Scotty replied, he left the transporter room with Ahvan trailing behind him, leaving Jim and Spock alone.

He paused for a moment, considering the events of the day. Jim stepped closer to Spock. “Spock… Thank you, before on the planet, it was, it brought up some stuff I’d rather forget, remember I told you that, told you I was on, on…” he felt his jaw shake as he trailed off, breath caught in his throat.

Spock reached out again, gently wrapping his fingers around Jim’s shaking wrist, “Jim, breathe.”

Jim closed his eyes and bowed his head, giving himself a rare moment of vulnerability that as captain he would never display in front of the crew. He felt Spock’s mind brush up against his own, a warm heavy presence which evened his breathing and slowed his racing heart. They stayed like that for a few precious minutes, each drawing calm from the other. Jim broke the silence, “Sickbay, we need to go to sickbay.”

“Yes Captain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for sticking with me <3 i havent been updating as much as i would like and im going to try to be a bit quicker


	3. Chapter 3

-March 8 2266-  
The comfortable silence of the journey to sick bay led Jim’s mind to turn to reflection of his friendship with Spock. It’s true that in the early days of their relationship it was tense and strained, between the Kobayashi Maru, Nero, the destruction of Vulcan, and the fight on the bridge, neither of them were really in the right mindset to form a decent working relationship.  
However, with time, patience and a little pushing from Pike and McCoy, they managed to work it out. It struck Jim as somewhat fitting that a timeline born from violence would also include a rocky start for them. The older Spock, or Silik as he had chosen to call himself in his last years, had never revealed much about his own history and relationship with his version of Jim. But from what little he did share Jim could tell that was not the case in his universe. He was glad that things had ended up working out with himself and the Spock that now stood next to him in the turbolift.  
They entered sickbay together, Morello sat on a bed near the nurse’s station, face pale shiny pink with newly regenerated skin. Chapel stood behind her, clippers in hand, shaving off the hair that hadn’t been burnt away. She nodded in greeting, still rather subdued after her injury.  
“Good to see you’re up so soon.”  
“Thank you, Sir.” Morello lifted a hand to check out her new haircut.  
Chapel gently slapped her hand away, “Be patient! Let me finish up and I’ll give you a mirror.”  
Spock stepped forward, “Ensign, I believe you completed the weapons studies course at the academy, is that correct?”  
“Yes, Sir.” She nodded, earning another playful slap from Chapel who was still working on her hair. “Judging by my own injury, their weapons weren’t too different from early Andorian phasers, however they’re much less focused. So it’s… less deadly but there’s more tissue damage, if that makes sense.”  
Spock inclined his head slightly, “Thank you for your assessment ensign.”  
“Done.” Said Chapel, passing a small mirror to Morello who jumped up and pressed a kiss to her cheek before checking herself out.  
“Thanks sweetheart.” Morello said before turning to her commanding officers, eyebrows raised questioningly.  
“Dismissed Ensign.” Jim replied. As she left he turned to Chapel, “So how is our mystery guest?”  
“He… was injured quite severely, but we don’t know his privacy wishes, so I’m not going to tell you much more than that, however he is likely to survive. I, I promised Leonard I would be in there once I fixed up Morello. I should go.” Chapel said as she walked further into sickbay and towards the OR.  
Jim followed, “Chapel, Christine. Who is he? Who is in there?”  
She sighed, “Captain, I think it would be best if Leonard told you. He’ll be at least a few more hours.” And with that she was gone.  
Jim turned back to Spock, “I’m going up to the bridge, we’re still in the neutral zone and we have to deal with Ahvan-“  
Spock held up a hand to stop him, “Jim,” he said softly, “You have worked overnight and the events which have transpired have caused you emotional distress. Rest, I am capable of returning Ahvan to her people and overseeing our departure.”  
“Spock you’ve been working just as long, longer really because the science department has been busy.”  
Spock stepped closer, “Jim. Rest. I promise I will as well once we are on our way.”  
Jim breathed out and let his shoulders sag. Spock was right, he should sleep. “Alright, goodnight Mr. Spock.”  
“Goodnight Captain.”  
XXX  
Jim pushed the last bits of his breakfast around his plate, mind wandering in meaningless contemplation. Spock was sitting across from him, similarly lost in thought, though he was no doubt engaged in more meaningful ruminations.  
The ping of Jim’s communicator jerked them both back to reality.  
COMM. FROM: LCOM-MCCOYLH   
TO: CAPT-KIRKJT, CC. CMDR-SPOCKST  
[[Come down when you’re ready, bring Spock too if he’s not busy]]  
XXX  
The doors to sickbay whooshed open. “Bones!”  
Leonard jumped in his chair, earning a slight smirk from Spock, not that he’d ever admit it of course, “Gah! Do you have to yell like that every time you come in here?” he grumbled. Jim smiled at him by way of an apology, fully intending to do it again.  
“So who is this Chris and what kind of condition is he in?”  
“Jim…” Leonard stood, “It’s better if you both just see him.” He gestured towards the back of sick bay, the last bed had the blue curtains drawn around it. Jim and Spock approached silently, Jim stopped and Spock reached forward to draw the curtain back.  
It was dark and the man in the bed was lying on his left side facing away from them, propped up with a pillow, and his face mostly turned away, but both of them instantly knew who it was. Christopher Pike.  
He was pale, unshaven, and covered in scars. Jim looked back at Leonard, “…How? He, he was gone. Spock, you felt him die!”  
“Yeah and neither of you remembered that he had a good eight to twelve minutes before he was truly dead. Someone else could have gotten to him while you two were moping around.” Leonard answered rather pointedly. “But that’s just my guess. He woke up briefly after being in the OR, didn’t say anything, just threw up and went back to sleep, ‘fact he’s probably ready to wake up again now.” He pushed past Spock and Jim, quietly walking around to the other side of the bed.  
They hung back and watched Bones check and adjust a few things on the biobed display. As he was messing with the panel on the side of the bed Pike groaned and buried his face into the pillow.  
“Admiral? Sir?”  
Pike looked around, dazed. He glanced at Jim and Spock before trying to sit up, he only managed to just lift his shoulders a couple of inches off the bed before collapsing back down. “Easy there, it’s a bit soon for that.” Leonard put a hand to Pike’s chest as he tried a second time.  
“McCoy? Jim, Spock?” he rasped.  
Jim approached the bed and put his hands on the railing, “Yeah, yeah we’re here. You’re alive?”  
“I think so, I’m on the Enterprise? What happened? Ahvan?”  
“We have returned her to her people and we are on our way to Earth as per Admiral Yeval’s orders.” Spock answered.  
“We were sent to retrieve you from Kramer IV, we found yourself and Ahvan in the middle of a fight inside a volcano. We got you out but you were badly injured.” Jim sighed, “We thought you were gone, after Khan…”  
Pike squinted, “Who?”  
“John Harrison… it’s a story for later though.”  
He rested his hand on Jim’s, “I’m okay kid, or at least I hope I am. Doctor?”  
Leonard picked up the PADD sitting near the bed, “Are you okay with Jim and Spock staying for this?”  
“Yeah ‘s fine.”  
“You have diffused phaser injuries across most of your torso, right arm, and legs. There are a number of acute phaser injuries as well, one that tore away part of your right foot, a couple over your stomach, four on your back, and one on your neck. You’re damn lucky you didn’t bleed out from that one.” Leonard took a deep breath, “Did you fall at some point?”  
Pike winced, “Yeah, fell down some stairs, then Ahvan dragged me up them.”  
“Well, you shattered your right ankle, knee, and hip, broke your pelvis, aggravated your previous gastrointestinal and spinal injuries from Nero, and to top it all off we believe you may have some autonomic dysfunction, we were waiting for you to wake up to assess that.” Leonard finished.  
Pike closed his eyes and sighed. He knew he was lucky to make it out of Kramer IV alive, but he also knew this was likely the end of any service in the field and it stung. Jim lifted his hand from the railing and held his wrist in a silent gesture of support.  
Spock stepped closer, “Are you well enough to explain your survival Admiral? Or do you require further rest?”  
“It was all Yeval,” Pike looked at him. “They got me out of Starfleet HQ, kept me in stasis, and sent me to the Sirvainians who patched me up pretty quick. After that Yeval visited me and explained that officially I was dead and that they wanted me to work for Starfleet Intelligence. I agreed and I was assigned to visit moderately advanced societies in the neutral zone that had already been contacted by the Klingons, keep their interference to a minimum and acquire dilithium.”  
“… Why aren’t we already at war? The Klingons violated the neutral zone and so did we.” Leonard asked.  
“I said the same to Yeval. They said that the Klingons can’t claim that we violated it without saying they did too and vice versa.” Pike shrugged slightly and started coughing violently. “…Need to sit up.” He gasped.  
Spock and Leonard jumped forward to push him upright. He hacked and shuddered a couple of times, a harsh and grating sound that made Jim wince. He reached out and rubbed Pike’s back, where the gown parted Jim saw a row of jagged red scars, his breath caught in his throat. Pike bent over and groaned in pain. Leonard picked up a scanner from the table next to the bed and ran it over him, “Looks like the Sirvainians didn’t do a particularly great job putting your chest back together after Daystrom, but I think once we get you back to Earth ‘fleet medical can do something about that.” Pike groaned again as Spock gently laid him back down. “You’ve already been out for more than fifteen hours, if you rest for another hour or so we can get you somethin’ to eat, yeah?”  
“Yeah.”  
Leonard looked up at them, “Alright you two, clear out.”  
XXX  
Jim sat at his desk in his quarters patiently waiting to be put through to Admiral Yeval. Today was an interesting day for sure. It had only been a little more than three months since their five year mission ended. It struck Jim as odd that Christopher Pike, a man who had been like a father to him in the absence of his own and pushed him towards a better path, had missed the entirety of the mission that had essentially become the story of his life.  
No matter, he was here now. Injured, hurt, but here nonetheless.  
Yeval’s stern, lined face appeared on screen, “Kirk. I assume you have an update?”  
“Yes sir. How much did Commander Spock tell you in his report?” Jim responded.  
“Only that you had recovered a Starfleet operative.”  
“Okay, well, Pike is alive and has just woken up after being treated in sick bay. He is rather severely injured and will require further treatment. We are on our way to Earth and should arrive in a little over two days.”  
Yeval nodded, “The Corvid will meet you halfway and take Pike from you, his husband Dr. Boyce is anxious to see him.”  
Jim’s chin dropped to his chest, Pike was leaving so soon. “Of course, Admiral.”  
XXX  
“So how am I going to get to the mess hall?”  
Dr. McCoy crossed his arms, “You are not going to the mess hall, you are eating here.”  
“I outrank you.”  
“Not in medical matters. Also, you are still legally dead.”  
(chapter 3 to (hopefully) be continued)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah uhhhh i havent updated in ages and unless i get super inspired i probably wont be returning to this, so this is all that was left in my drafts ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ enjoy

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first star trek fanfiction, reviews are appreciated, you can find me on tumblr at gay-trek.tumblr.com


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